Zacharias 11

1 Open your doors, O Libanus, and let the fire devour your cedars.

Open your doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may consume your cedars!

2 Let the pine howl, because the cedar has fallen; for the mighty men have been greatly afflicted: howl, you oaks of the land of Basan; for the thickly planted forest has been torn down.

Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen; the majestic trees are ruined! Wail, O oaks of Bashan, for the dense forest has been cut down!

3 [There is] a voice of the shepherds mourning; for their greatness is brought low: a voice of roaring lions; for the pride of Jordan is brought down.

Listen to the wailing of the shepherds, for their glory is in ruins. Listen to the roaring of the young lions, for the thickets of the Jordan are destroyed.

4 Thus says the Lord Almighty, Feed the sheep of the slaughter;

This is what the LORD my God says: “Pasture the flock marked for slaughter,

5 which their possessors have slain, and have not repented: and they that sold them said, Blessed be the Lord; for we have become rich: and their shepherds have suffered no sorrow for them.

whose buyers slaughter them without remorse. Those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the LORD, for I am rich!’ Even their own shepherds have no compassion on them.

6 Therefore I will no longer have mercy upon the inhabitants of the land, says the Lord: but, behold, I will deliver up the men every one into the hand of his neighbour, and into the hand of his king; and they shall destroy the land, and I will not rescue out of their hand.

For I will no longer have compassion on the people of the land, declares the LORD, but behold, I will cause each man to fall into the hands of his neighbor and his king, who will devastate the land, and I will not deliver it from their hands.”

7 And I will tend the flock of slaughter in the land of Chanaan: and I will take for myself two rods; the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Line; and I will tend the flock.

So I pastured the flock marked for slaughter, especially the afflicted of the flock. Then I took for myself two staffs, calling one Favor and the other Union, and I pastured the flock.

8 And I will cut off three shepherds in one month; and my soul shall grieve over them, for their souls cried out against me.

And in one month I dismissed three shepherds. My soul grew impatient with the flock, and their souls also detested me.

9 And I said, I will not tend you: that which dies, let it die; and that which falls off, let it fall off; and let the rest eat every one the flesh of his neighbour.

Then I said, “I will no longer shepherd you. Let the dying die, and the perishing perish; and let those who remain devour one another’s flesh.”

10 And I will take my beautiful staff, and cast it away, that I may break my covenant which I made with all the people.

Next I took my staff called Favor and cut it in two, revoking the covenant I had made with all the nations.

11 And it shall be broken in that day; and the Chananites, the sheep that are kept for me, shall know that it is the word of the Lord.

It was revoked on that day, and so the afflicted of the flock who were watching me knew that it was the word of the LORD.

12 And I will say to them, If it be good in your eyes, give [me] my price, or refuse it. And they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.

Then I told them, “If it seems right to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” So they weighed out my wages, thirty pieces of silver.

13 And the Lord said to me, Drop them into the furnace, and I will see if it is good [metal], as I was proved for their sakes. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them into the furnace in the house of the Lord.

And the LORD said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—this magnificent price at which they valued me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the LORD.

14 And I cast away [my] second rod, [even] Line, that I might break the possession between Juda and Israel.

Then I cut in two my second staff called Union, breaking the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

15 And the Lord said to me, Take yet to you shepherd's implements belonging to an unskillful shepherd.

And the LORD said to me: “Take up once more the equipment of a foolish shepherd.

16 For, behold, I [will] raise up a shepherd against the land: he shall not visit that which is perishing, and he shall not seek that which is scattered, and he shall not heal that which is bruised, nor guide that which is whole: but he shall devour the flesh of the choice [ones], and shall dislocate the joints [of their necks].

For behold, I will raise up a shepherd in the land who will neither care for the lost, nor seek the young, nor heal the broken, nor sustain the healthy, but he will devour the flesh of the choice sheep and tear off their hooves.

17 Alas for the vain shepherds that have forsaken the sheep! the sword [shall be] upon the arms of such a one, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be completely withered, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.

Woe to the worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock! May a sword strike his arm and his right eye! May his arm be completely withered and his right eye utterly blinded!”